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Diane B. Roldán

Diane is an associate in the complex litigation and health care groups of Arent Fox’s San Francisco office. Diane helps businesses, including hospitals, midsize companies, and multinational corporations, resolve disputes through litigation and arbitration. She has successfully counseled businesses at every stage of litigation, from filing or answering the initial complaint to the winning jury verdict or arbitration decision.

Diane specializes in the health care and energy sectors. She regularly represents California hospitals, medical staffs, and major health care systems in complex litigation, peer review proceedings, and administrative hearings. She has successfully represented multinational corporations, investors, and sovereign states in numerous forms of domestic and international arbitrations, including JAMS, AAA, ICC, ICSID, ad hoc, UNCITRAL, NAFTA, and ITLOS arbitrations.

Prior to joining Arent Fox, Diane clerked for the Honorable John R. Fisher of the DC Court of Appeals in Washington, DC.

Diane is particularly adept at defending whistleblower retaliation lawsuits. Her team recently convinced the California Supreme Court to grant review of an influential peer review case involving a physician who was suspended at two Southern California hospitals and subsequently sued for retaliation. Diane also currently represents several medical staffs in administrative peer review hearings involving physicians claiming retaliation for corrective action.

Complex Domestic Litigation

Diane has successfully represented major corporations in state and federal court and in nearly all forms of arbitration. She recently won a complete jury trial victory in California state court for a client whose former employee stole millions of dollars’ worth of trade secrets before joining a major competitor in China. The jury found the defendant liable on all causes of action and for stealing all trade secrets alleged.

Diane also defended Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and Chevron Corp., in connection with claims filed by the City of Richmond related to a 2012 refinery fire in Richmond, California. Prior to trial, the case settled for a nominal amount in 2018. To learn more about this settlement, click hereto read the Law360 article titled "Chevron Settles Calif. City's Suit Over Refinery Fire For $5M.

International Arbitration and Litigation

Diane has years of experience representing sovereign states and multinational corporations on matters related to foreign investment, the petroleum sector, infrastructure development, contract disputes, and maritime boundary disputes. She recently represented a sovereign nation in two international arbitrations under UNCITRAL rules and a state-to-state arbitration at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Diane currently represents an international investor alleging expropriation under NAFTA and a Spanish distributor in an ICC arbitration with its U.S.-based supplier.

In 2017, Diane successfully convinced the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) to remove a Zimbabwean corporation from the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) and Blocked Persons list. She also won a complete victory for a pro bono client, when the United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (UN MICT) withdrew its allegation of contempt against a film production company screening its award-winning documentary chronicling the first-ever prosecution of rape as a crime of war.

Previous Work

Diane graduated from Stanford Law School in 2011 and was named a Stanford Public Interest Fellow. During law school, she clerked for the US Attorney’s Offices for the District of Columbia and the Northern District of California. She also researched constitutional law for the Law, Race, and Gender Unit of the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Diane was Senior Articles Editor for the Stanford Journal of International Law.

Diane graduated magna cum laude and with University Honors from Brigham Young University, with a degree in International Relations. She was the 2007 Kennedy Scholar of the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies. She interned for the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Speaker’s Office of Interparliamentary Affairs.

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